Mr. John Kelpie:

To pick up on what Mr. Ó Domhnaill said, all cities in Ireland and Europe face significant challenges these days in terms of sustainable economic growth, social issues, cohesion and so on. It is probably true that those cities that are attaining some degree of success in tackling these issues are doing so because they are collaborating on a wider regional level. They understand the concept of a wider city region. Local authorities around cities are beginning to pool their efforts to act as a more coherent subregion of the state in which the city is located. With the success of other city regions in mind, Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council have begun this new collaboration. For decades, as Mr. Ó Domhnaill said, the two councils have collaborated on many projects and have been very successful. However, many of these projects have been single-issue focused and there has not been a wider strategic collaboration at a city region level to tackle the big macro issues at a strategic level. That is what is new. That is what has changed in the north west over the past three or four years.

A new integrated strategic approach is being taken at four levels. Each of the councils restructured in 2014 and 2015 with the reform of local government in both jurisdictions. That acted as a catalyst for both councils to look at economic development in a new way using new powers allocated to councils. Each council has done that with reference to the other. At north west level, while collaboration always existed, these new structures have emerged. We will say a little about that later on. At national level, we understand now, as a city region, that we cannot drive forward the north west city region on our own but must collaborate with both Governments. The degree of collaboration with both Governments has accelerated tremendously in recent years and our attendance at this meeting is evidence of this. We have been here before and this relationship is maturing and developing. At international level, we now collectively market the city region as one place. We hold joint investment visits and we are looking at a joint tourism strategy. We are looking at the benefits of both places overlapping in the highly competitive world market in which other city regions are competing. It is very important that we do this.

The ultimate aim is to drive forward the city region. What we are doing is place based leadership, the place being the cross-Border jurisdiction in which the city region sits. We have completely shared objectives and work completely in partnership. Very importantly, we are outcomes focused. There is no point in doing any of this unless we change some of the fundamental indicators that have held the city region back over the years. It is a very inclusive approach. In the slides, members will see the partnership model. It is very simple. All of the complicated models that existed in past, of which there were very many in the crowded cross-Border jurisdictional space, have been simplified down to the model in the slides. The north west strategic growth partnership, which we represent, comprises six elected representatives from both councils who have been given delegated authority to take key decisions in respect of economic development, environmental regeneration and community cohesion. This is coupled with input from senior representatives from all of the Government Departments in both jurisdictions. Working with that strategic partnership, shown in the blue box on the slide, is the development group, shown in the green box. Within the development group are all of our regional partners, the educational establishments, the chambers of commerce, our communities, the health sector and all of the various sectors. It is a very simple model. We believe it is the only model in the European Union, on the border of the European Union or across two jurisdictions that has cross-community, cross-council and national government participation and the authority and power to take key decisions in respect of that city region jurisdiction.